Secrets, Truth and Gold
by caroshadow
Summary: On their way towards Bagg-end Fili and kili run into a strange dwarf-woman, what is her story and will she be able to fit in. ThorinXOC
1. Chapter 1

The sun had just set far behind the trees as a cloaked figure shot through the darkening forest, running very fast for their small statue. The cloaked figure looked over their shoulder, careful not to trip over tree roots and the uneven forest floor, to find two burly men in pursuit.

"Come back here, you little wrench!" one of the two men yelled into the darkness. The cloaked figure had to find a way to lose the two pursuers. Their eyes searched the surrounding forest as they ran; pushing branches that threatened to hit them in the face aside. Nothing looked like it would help the cloaked figure escape their pursuers they noted as the last rays of the fading sun colored the bark of some of the trees. This made it almost seem as though the trees were burning, and it was for this reason that the cloaked figure hardly noticed the distant flickering of a small fire, but they still did see it. Seeing no better option they made their way towards the fire, in the very least leading their pursuers through a group of travelers would cause some confusion.

Two dwarves had just made camp as the sun slipped between the tall trees. They were talking animatedly about some adventure they were getting ready for, so animatedly that they didn't hear the rustling in the dark bushes on the edge of their little clearing. Until a cloaked figure jumped out of said greenery and ran past the two dwarves, disappearing into the forest again. The two dwarves stared at the dark patch of forest the stranger had just disappeared into, unsure of how to react. Before they could even start to wonder what had just happened two burly men stepped into the clearing, following the same path as the cloaked stranger had.

"There's two more of 'em." One of the men yelled, drawing a rusty blade. "It's a trap." The other panted, clutching his pitchfork a little tighter.

The two dwarves only blinked at the two newcomers for a moment, still confused by the situation. Normally they would have shot up and drawn their weapons right away, but they had been told to behave, so they would not initiate a fight.

Getting no reaction out of the two, still sitting, dwarves the second man raised his pitchfork and charged forward, aiming for the dark haired dwarf's back. The alarmed look on the face of the other dwarf made him turn around, but it was already too late to completely evade the rather sharp ends of the pitchfork. The spikes of the fork pierced their way through the dwarf's shirt and into his left arm. After this both dwarf were on their feet, weapons drawn. With the uninjured dwarf moving forward to cover the other, who held his sword in his right hand only, even though the weapon was obviously meant to be wielded with both hands.

The first man grumbled and attacked the uninjured dwarf, who had no trouble fending off the man's attack. The injured dwarf was once again being attacked by the man with the pitchfork and although his opponent was less experienced, he was having more trouble than the other dwarf. With only one arm to use the weight of his blade slowed the young dwarf down and the range of the pitchfork made it almost impossible for him to get close enough to strike his attacker. Giving the man a big enough advantage to fight the dwarf.

The blond dwarf was still too engaged in his own fight to help the other dwarf. The dark haired dwarf blocked some of the man's strikes and dodged the others, but the fact that the man mainly used thrusts for attacks, made it even harder to fight back.

Suddenly the cloaked figure from before shot out of the forest again, sword drawn. They landed a strong blow on the pitchfork, making the man drop his weapon. The dark haired dwarf was still quicker then the stranger had thought, for he already had his sword pressed against the man's throat.

It didn't take the blond dwarf a moment longer to defeat his opponent and he quickly stepped over the, now unconscious, man to check on his companion.

"Kili, are you okay?" he asked quickly, pushing the stranger aside.

The dwarf named Kili winched as he moved his arm before looking at his friend, "Yeah, I'm fine." He said, grinning as well as he could.

A silence fell over the group as the two dwarves turned towards the stranger, who was still wearing their hood down, covering most of their face.

Before either of the dwarfs could say anything the stranger spoke, "I'm sorry." They said softly. "I could take care of that wound, if you're alright with that." they suggested shyly, nudging their head in the direction of the wounded dwarf.

"How about you start by showing who you are?" the blond dwarf snapped at the stranger. "My brother got hurt because of the people you lead here." He added.

The stranger looked down at the forest floor before deciding to take off their hood, revealing a head of messy light brown hair, which was pulled back into a single braid that disappeared into a weather-worn cloak. The dwarf-woman sheathed her sword in a sheath that was apparently hidden underneath her cloak; a sword of dwarven make, the blond dwarf noted.

"I'm sorry I lead those people here, I didn't think they would attack you." She said, keeping her gaze fixated on the noses of her simple boots.

The blond dwarf let his eyes scan the woman in front of him; he was too surprised at the moment to see a dwarf-woman to say much. She was still examining the grass around her feet, making more of her brown hair hide her face from his view. She looked every bit dwarf to him, her height and her build, but she did lack a beard, could she be that young?

"You said you could take care of his wound, do you have any healing skills?" the blond dwarf asked her a little calmer now, he felt a bit ashamed of yelling at a woman like that. The woman nodded silently, still not looking up. He looked over at the wounded dwarf, their eyes met and the wounded dwarf nodded at his brother before walking over to the brown haired female.

"Please, sit down." She shyly asked the wounded dwarf, before sitting down beside him; gently taking hold of his arm. She tried to examine the wound but it was too dark to see much and the blood that had made its way into his shirt didn't make it any easier. She shook her head, catching the attention of both dwarfs.

The blond dwarf just came back from tying the two men up, he didn't want them raising alarm in the village.

"It's too dark to see anything. All I can do now is wrap a bandaged around it and wait until tomorrow." She told them quietly. She went over to the bushes were she had hid after the men had turned their attention to the other two dwarfs and pulled out a small bag; she had left it there when she decided to help the two dwarves. She walked back to the two dwarves before opening the bag; revealing some bundles white cloth, most likely bandages. She took on of the bundles and started wrapping the bandage around the dwarf's wounded arm.

"How does it feel?" she asked, not looking up from her work.

"Not that bad, as long as I don't move my arm." The dwarf told her, still trying to sound cheeky despite the wound on his arm. The woman smiled a little as this, but her smile faded as soon as it had appeared as she turned back to her work.

"I could be of more help in the morning..." She said as soon as she was finished, letting the unasked question hang in the air.

"What's your name?" the dark haired dwarf asked her, seeming to trust her more than the other dwarf did.

"Nithyi." She answered quietly, moving a little closer to the fire.

"I'm Kili and that's my brother Fili." The dark haired dwarf said, sounding rather cheerful. The blond dwarf, Fili, seemed a less at ease with the strange woman.

"Why were those men chasing you?" Fili asked her, his voice was now calm, but still not as friendly as his brother's.

Nithyi stared into the fire, before answering. "Cuz' I stole the bandages." She all but whispered.

"Why did you do that?" Kili asked before his brother could say anything, he sounded rather surprised. His eyes trying to search Nithyi's face, but her light brown hair once again hid it from view.

"The old lady at the healers didn't want to sell me any, but I sometimes need them." She whispered, ashamed of herself.

"Can't your parents get you those?" Fili asked carefully, knowing that a subject like that might be a sensitive one.

"I live on my own." She replied quietly but curtly and the brothers decided to leave that subject alone, too many dwarves had lost family.

After that a silence fell over the small group of dwarves until it was broken by Fili, "How much do you know of healing?" he asked her, hoping this was a safer subject.

"Not much, I know how to clean a wound and how to apply a bandage, but that's about it." She answered shyly, that were the only things she really knew. Someone had once told her how to stitch a wound, but she had never done that before. She wasn't really much of a healer, knowing nothing more than how to dress a wound a how to identify 2 or 3 herbs.

A thoughtful look crossed Fili's face as he heard the woman's words and he locked eyes with his brother, who seemingly caught on with what the older of the two was thinking. Nithyi missed this whole exchange, for she was still looking into the fire.

A healer, though not very skilled, was what their soon-to-be company was still lacking; aside from the vital burglar.

"Then just stay here for the night, so you can treat Kili's arm in the morning." Fili said finally. That would keep her around for now, he wasn't about to let this dwarven healer slip away, who knew what they might encounter on their way towards the lonely mountain and no-one in their company had any healing skills for as far as the young dwarf knew. After Nithyi had nodded in agreement Fili got up and took his bedroll from his pack and doing the same with his brother's bedroll.

After rolling his bedroll out, he crawled in, facing the fire. "'Night." He said before closing his eyes. In the same time Kili had crawled into his own bedroll and looked over at the other two dwarves, "'Night, brother, 'Night, Nithyi." He said, before turning around.

Nithyi looked at the two young dwarves for a moment. Even though they had no reason to trust her or even help her they had been so kind to her. She smiled slightly before curling up in her cloak, keeping close to the fire, "Good night." She whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Nithyi woke up feeling a little sore. She grunted quietly, sleeping on the hard forest floor wasn't the most comfortable thing to do she reminded herself. Still the female dwarf did not want to get up yet and simply stared at the barely smoldering embers of last night's fire, snuggling into the warmth that still remained in her cloak.

As lost in thought as Nithyi was, she didn't notice the shuffling of the other two dwarves as they started waking up. That was, until she noticed a pair of dark grey boots near her head. Rolling onto her back a little she turned her head to see who was standing over her.

"Morning." Fili said, looking down. "C'mon, you gotta take care of Kili's arm and get some breakfast; we have a long day ahead." He said extending his hand towards the woman.

Nithyi blinked a few times, partially getting the sleep out of her eyes and partially because Fili was acting much nicer to her then he had done yesterday. The young dwarf though, didn't seem bothered by any kind of change so the brown haired woman shrugged it off and took Fili's hand, letting him help her up.

She saw Kili sitting on one of the logs around their, now dead, fire.

"You'll have to take some of your clothes off, so I can treat your wound properly." Nithyi said shyly, sitting down beside the dark haired dwarf on the log.

"You could have just asked if you wanted that." Kili shot back suggestively, smirking at the woman. Nithyi, though, quickly busied herself with getting a new bandage, not looking at Kili. She could hear a snicker coming from the other dwarf; who had started lighting the fire again, probably to make breakfast.

"Okay, okay, I'll behave." Kili said, now laughing; giving Nithyi his most innocent look as soon as the woman looked up at him again.

Nithyi shot him a rather stern look before sighing and making her way over to the mischievous dwarf again. She helped him take off a few layers of clothing and armor, before managing to move the sleeve of his shirt up far enough for her to see the wound.

The wound didn't look too bad, aside from the caked blood surrounding it. Nithyi took a new piece of cloth and some water from one of the water skins and started cleaning Kili's arm, wiping all the caked blood away. The wound had stared to close already; that was one advantage dwarves had, being as sturdy as they are stubborn. Once she was satisfied with her work she wrapped a new bandage around the wound, before helping Kili put on all his clothes again; making sure he'd not use his arm more than necessary.

Fili handed both the other dwarves breakfast as soon as Nithyi had finished helping Kili. She quietly ate her breakfast, which consisted of some baked eggs with dried meat, as she looked around. The brothers were talking happily again, which give Nithyi a chance to examine her surroundings.

Even though the sun has risen some time ago, a chilly fog still hung between the trees. The sun had cleared the cold fog away from their clearing early enough in the morning. It wasn't long until Nithyi knew where they were, she hadn't been paying much attention to where exactly she was running last night. But now she knew that they were rather close to were she lived, which was in a small cave a little further into the forest, and that there was a fresh stream running not far away.

"So Nithyi, do you live anywhere nearby?" Kili asked casually, dragging the woman out of her thoughts.

Nithyi looked at the other dwarf for a moment before answering, "Yes, I do. Why?" she asked, "You don't have to worry, I can find my own way home. I won't have to bother you much more." She said quietly, hoping that the sadness in her voice wasn't too apparent.

"Wait a moment, Milady. You're not going anywhere, yet." Fili suddenly cut in. At this the other two dwarves looked at him, one more surprised than the other. "You have to stick around until Kili's arm is completely healed again." He explained, using a tone that made Nithyi wondering whether he was just teasing her or that he was dead serious and she couldn't make out which one it was.

Nithyi stared at the blond dwarf for a while not sure what to make of his comment. Kili though, did understand what his brother was trying to accomplish and joined in.

"Yeah, you have to stay around, what if my arm gets infected." Kili said in the same tone as his brother was using.

"Where exactly are you going?" Nithyi asked the two young dwarves suspiciously, she was getting the impression they were simply trying to drag her along.

"Just visiting some friends, we're supposed to meet up in a place called Hobbiton, somewhere west of here." Kili answered casually, almost evasively.

"Our uncle and some old friends to be more precise." Fili corrected his brother, "and not just somewhere west of here, we do know the way."

"So you gotta come along too; you should live among dwarves, not humans." Kili added, locking eyes with Nithyi.

Nithyi looked from one brother to the other, thinking of what to do. They were not telling her something, that much was obvious by the looks on their faces, but it seemed to be more mischievous than malicious. And aside from that; Kili was right, she wanted to live among dwarves again; maybe things would have changed by now. She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. The life she was living now wasn't especially pleasant, so part of her was wondering what was making her even think about not going with the two kind dwarves; but then there was the other part of her, the part that warned her.

She opened her eyes again, finding to the two brothers looking at her with curious looks on their faces. "So?" they both asked.

The woman brushed some of her light brown hair out of her face, playing with her braid a little; she'd have to rebraid it soon, it was getting messy. The two parts in her mind were still fighting over her decision, but one was starting to gain the upper hand.

"Alright, I'll join you." She said, her voice clearer than it had been in ages. "but I do have to pick up a few things first." She said.

"Great." Kili said happily as his brother just nodded enthusiastically, with something of an accomplished smile on his face. "Then let's get going!" Kili said, jumping up.

"How long does it take to reach your home?" Fili asked Nithyi as soon as the three of them had finished packing.

Nithyi cast a glance around before answering, "About 10 minutes west, on foot." The dwarf-woman said, pointing in said direction.

"Good, that's where we were going." Fili said, gesturing for Nithyi to lead the way.

After trudging through the still chilly forest for some time they reached Nithyi's 'house'.

"I'll be right back." She said as she climbed up to the entrance to her small cave, leaving the brothers to their own thoughts.

The two male dwarves had realized that Nithyi wouldn't be rich, living on her own, but they hadn't expected her to live in nothing but a cave.

It didn't take Nithyi long to pack her bedroll and spare clothes into her pack, much else she didn't have anyway. She packed what little food she still had left and checked her weapons, a little dagger in her belt and her sword on her back.

She looked around one last time, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything; before making her way back towards the dwarven brothers.

"So which way now?" she asked the two as she had made her way down to the two brothers again.

"This way." Fili said, leading the way.

For some time they walked through the forest, trudging through undergrowth and nasty thorny bushes. After about an hour of seeing nothing but greens and browns around them the forest finally seemed to lighten, revealing a road. This made their journey a lot easier and soon enough the three dwarves started chatting, or more like the two brothers started chatting and trying to get Nithyi to join their conversation.

This is how they journeyed for some hours, chatting about anything that came to mind.

"So how did you manage all alone out there?" Kili asked after a while, he had been curious about that ever since they had seen the dwarf-woman's 'home'.

Nithyi looked at the dark haired dwarf; she still wasn't comfortable with talking about herself too much. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice growing quieter again as she tried to evade the question.

"Well, how did you manage to get food and where did you get your clothes?" he asked, his tone one of simple curiosity.

"I know how to hunt and what is edible in the forest, at least in the forest where I live. And my mother used to be a dressmaker; she taught me when I was little." Nithyi answered shyly, playing with her cloak.

"Where did you get the materials?" Fili asked, his own curiosity forcing him to join the conversation.

"Sometimes people would trade them for food or animal skins." Nithyi answered, looking over at the dwarf.

"Talking about food." Kili cut in, gazing up at the sky for a moment, "I think we should take a break here." He finished, looking around for a suitable place to rest and eat something.

"Good idea." Fili said, looking ahead. "We should be able to reach Hobbiton by nightfall, if we don't stay too long." He said, following his brother, who had found a good place to rest.

Nithyi followed the brothers, dropping her pack before sitting down beside it. The sun had risen up far into the sky by now, which made it a bit to hot to be walking so much, but the dwarves didn't let that slow them down. The brown haired woman took off her cloak and looked up at the sky, eyes closed, letting the sun warm her face. Ignoring the noises around her she stayed like that for a while, letting the rays of sunlight touch her skin. This gave the two male dwarves the opportunity to find out something more about their female companion. She wore simple, dark and very worn out looking boots, pants of some thick fabric and a leather over-shirt and knit arm-warmers. The belt that kept her sword on her back looked like it hadn't ever been replaced, making it look even older then her boots. But aside from most of her clothes looking rather worn, they all fitted her size.

Nithyi kept her gaze at the sky, not noticing the two dwarves who had been examining her for the past few minutes; until Fili shook her from her thoughts, offering her some bread and dried meat. She smiled at the blond dwarf a little, accepting the food, before she started rummaging through her own pack, pulling out a few apples. She threw both of the dwarves one, which they ofcource skillfully caught.

After their lunch the three dwarves set out again, now they could follow the road until they all but reached their destination.

Along this road the small company traveled. Until somewhere in the last afternoon, the terrain around them started getting greener and scattered hills started appearing all across the landscape. "We seem to be getting closer." Fili mused happily, for even though dwarves could easily handle a long journey, everyone wanted to sit down and get some hot dinner.

Even though Fili had said that they were getting closer, the sun was already setting when they spotted the first houses of the village they had been searching for.

"Now all we have to do is find the right house." Fili said.

"How are we going to find the right house?" Nithyi asked quietly, she was sure the brothers knew what they were looking for, but she had no idea.

"We look for the door with the mark on it." Fili said, a bit absentmindedly for his eyes were already scanning the doors within eyesight.

Nithyi tilted her head a little, obviously not knowing what they were looking for. "Just look for a door with a mark carved into it, recently." Kili clarified for the woman, if only a little.

And so Nithyi found herself scanning doors in a small, peaceful village with two other dwarves. It wasn't long until Fili ran up to her, she was nearer to him then his brother was. "I found it." He said, before dragging the brown haired female along to find his brother. Once they had found said dark haired dwarf they made their way back towards the marked house. As they reached to door Fili knocked, loud enough for anyone inside to hear it and then they waited.


	3. Chapter 3

The door was pulled open by a bewildered looking little creature and although he wasn't much shorter then the dwarves, he was a lot thinner, even thinner then Nithyi.

"Mr. Baggins?" Fili asked and the little creature nodded slightly.

Baggins…? Oh right, so that was a hobbit. Kili had explained Nithyi earlier today that they would be meeting a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins.

"Fili and Kili, at your service." The brothers said together before bowing to the hobbit.

"And Nithyi." She woman added, a lot quieter then the two other dwarves, before copying their gesture.

This Bilbo stuttered as Kili walked through the door, leaving the little hobbit where he was.

"It seems they have started to arrive." Kili said, noticing the sound of familiar voices coming from further into the house. Having said that the two dwarves dumped 'all' they weapons on the little hobbit, which made it look like he would fall over from the weight. As the dwarven brothers walked further into the house Bilbo dropped their weapons and started following the two, before turning back to Nithyi for a second. "You might as well also come in." he said, before walking back towards the room with the dwarves.

Nithyi left her sword and dagger on the pile of other dwarf weapons, making her wonder how many dwarves would already be there, before following.

By the time she reached the room the two dwarves she had traveled with were being greeted by two other dwarves, they had obviously known each other for a long time. Nithyi stayed back a little, she didn't want to get between old friends; but she was soon noticed anyway.

"Who's that lass?" The tall, partially bald dwarf asked Fili and Kili.

"That's Nithyi, we ran into her on our way here." Kili explained.

"But why is she here?" The tall dwarf asked again.

"Because she has some healing skills." Fili said, speaking up now.

"And that's enough?"

"Maybe not, but that's still something we're lacking." The blond defended.

"That's true." The other dwarf said, he had a long gray beard making him look older than anyone else in the room. "But it's not really us you have to convince." He added and at this the younger two sighed, for they knew who they had to convince.

"Well, we can't force a lady to stand all the time, so sit down lass." The old dwarf said as the other dwarves made their way either towards the table or towards what looked like the storeroom. Nithyi nodded at the dwarf and sat down, Fili and Kili had left to plunder the stores of the poor little hobbit so the brown haired woman sat with the other two dwarves.

"I think we should introduce ourselves." The old dwarf said, "I'm Balin and this is my brother Dwalin." He said, pointing at the tall dwarf beside him as he spoke of his brother.

Nithyi nodded politely as the dwarf introduced himself and his brother. She wasn't very comfortable among so many dwarves, she had learned to get along with the two brothers, so she was rather relieved when Fili and Kili came back, carrying as much food as they could. They put what they had found on the table and sat down beside Nithyi, successfully locking her in. As the woman turned her attention back towards the table, where she wouldn't meet anyone's eyes, she noticed how hungry she actually was. She looked up as she saw a plate and a tankard with ale being put in front of her, to find the four dwarves already starting on whatever had been put on the table. "Eat something." Fili said, before stuffing his face again.

"Yeah, you're already skinny as it is." Kili joked at this.

Nithyi looked away for a moment, embarrassed by the sudden attention, but soon turned her attention back towards the table to eat.

The little hobbit had a lot of tasty food in his little home and to Nithyi food was at the moment more important then her shyness.

It didn't take long before there was another knock on the door. "There's someone at the door, Mr. Boggins." Kili said, his mouth still full of food and Balin shot the young dwarf a look that told him to show at least some manners.

The hobbit had by now made his way over to the door again and pulled it open to reveal even more dwarves, how the hobbit wished the wizard would show up. Nithyi heard the mumbling in the hallway and remembered Kili's words 'have started to arrive' and she tried to look into the hallway, wondering how many more people were about to join them tonight.

This time five more dwarves stepped into the room and Nithyi sunk back in her seat, hoping to stay unnoticed for a while. But as the other four dwarves jumped up to great their friends; the woman, who was trying to stay quiet, stood out even more.

This time it was Fili who answered the new dwarves' unvoiced question, "That's Nithyi, we ran into her on our way here." He explained.

"Lass, that are Dori, Nori and their younger brother Ori." Balin said pointing first at a dwarf with white hair and a white, short beard; next to a dwarf with a hairdo that made his head look like a star and next to a younger dwarf who stayed close to the first two. The older two nodded before getting more food from the hobbit's storeroom and the younger, Ori, murmured a polite 'nice to meet you, miss' before disappearing after his brother.

"And these two gentlemen," The old dwarf continued looking at the other two newcomer, "Are Oin and Gloin." He said, first nudging over at the older looking dwarf who had his mustache braided into his beard and next at the red haired dwarf beside him.

As soon as the three brothers were back the five new dwarves sat down and started eating and talking. Nithyi wasn't used to this much company or to even having people around, so the woman tried to shrink back into her seat. She sipped her ale a few times, trying to find a way to get out of her current situation, but the other dwarves had her locked in; the only way out would be over the table. She sighed, that would attract even more attention to her, so the woman decided to stay quiet and hope for it all to pass soon.

There was another knock at the door and Nithyi couldn't help but agree with Mr. Baggins as he groaned in dismay, the hobbit didn't want even more dwarves in his house and the woman didn't want even more people around.

But the little hobbit did open the door, letting three more dwarves and the long awaited wizard into his house. After some murmuring in the hallway again more dwarves walked into the dinning room, for whatever the purpose of this room had been in the first place now it had become a dining room. The dwarves exchanged happy greeting and once again Nithyi was introduced to the newcomers, which made her more and more uncomfortable. The newcomers were also introduced to the woman again and she did pay attention to that. First was a cheerful looking dwarf with a fur-rimed hat named Bofur, next was his brother Bombur. Bombur was a rather fat dwarf but he also looked cheerful. Next though was their cousin, a dark haired dwarf named Bifur, but what distinguished him the most was the remains of an ax stuck in his head. Nithyi winced involuntarily at this and Bofur seemed to have noticed. "Why, doesn't that make his look pretty." He joked at the woman and Nithyi hoped that Bofur would quickly find something else to do, but the dwarf continued, "But we think it damaged his brain somewhat, for now he can't speak Westron anymore. I had to learn Khuzdul so I could even talk to him." The dwarf's voice had lost some of its earlier cheerfulness as he said that, obviously hurt by his cousin's misfortune.

Nithyi swallowed quietly and worked up the courage to speak openly with so many people around. She greeted Bifur in the ancient dwarven language, she had never been more thankful her mother had thought her some of that when she was little. The fact that she spoke Khuzdul seemed to be a pleasant surprise for the dwarves that were listening. Bifur returned her greeting before turning his attention back to eating and Bofur smiled at the woman, "And it made him a little feisty." He added, voice cheerful again as he also made his way over to the hobbit's storeroom, to loot it even more with his brother and cousin.

Nithyi looked around again, now quite happy the dwarves were all talking to each other and ignoring her. She found the little hobbit talking frantically with a man in long grey robes.

"…when do you think he's gonna arrive?" Fili asked just as Nithyi started paying some attention to what was going on around her.

"As soon as he can, Lad." Balin told the young dwarf, "He's at an important meeting right now."

Part of Nithyi wanted to ask if there were many more people coming, but that way she would involve herself in the discussion and she didn't feel up for that.

And then there was another knock on the door, "There you'll have him." Dwalin said as his brother told Mr. Baggins to open the door.

It didn't take long of another dwarf to step into the room; he had dark hair, a well trimmed beard and very piercing eyes. Nithyi gasped a little in her quiet corner, there was no mistaking, that was the heir to the throne of Erebor. The brown haired woman quickly hid her shock as she turned back to her food, that had suddenly become very interesting.

As Thorin took his seat at the head of the table everyone became quiet, turning their attention to their leader. The dark haired dwarf looked at those gathered, letting his gaze glide over those present. "I though there were 13 of us?" He stated, expecting someone to explain the new addition to their meeting.

"Uncle, that's Nithyi, we ran into her on our way here." Kili said, hoping that would explain the woman's presence.

This though, still didn't explain why she was still here.

"She has some skill in healing." Fili said, "That's why I thought it would be good to keep her around." The blond dwarf explained.

"Aye, someone who knows how to patch us up would be nice." Bofur said, hoping to break the tense silence in the room. This comment though worried Nithyi, what were they planning that they would pick up a random stranger to be their healer.

"I have to agree with Bofur here." The cloaked man said, suddenly joining the conversation, "and that shouldn't be a problem, seeing that she is also a dwarf." The old man said gently.

Thorin looked at the old man, looking like he was considering his options.

"Have you told her about our quest?" Thorin asked his nephews and the boys shook their heads. "Then why do you think she'd come along?" he asked, wanting to hear Fili's reasoning.

"She was living on her own and …and we simply still need a healer." He said, looking down at his plate. He had gotten her all the way here, but he had forgotten to think of whether the brown haired woman would want to join them or not.

Thorin sighed, looking at the woman who still seemed to want to melt into the wood behind her. "You will not tell anyone about what you will hear tonight, understand?" Thorin told her darkly and Nithyi nodded quickly. At this Thorin started explaining the expedition to all those present and to keep a long story short; they were going to take Erebor back from the dragon Smaug. Nithyi's eyes widened at this, partly in terror as she was starting to understand what she was about to be dragged into and partly in happy surprise at getting the mountain, the home of their ancestors, back from the dragon.

The dwarves handed at the hobbit a contract and after Bofur explained the young hobbit some of the words he read, he passed out. The dwarves groaned as the wizard, now identified as Gandalf, picked the little creature up and put him in a chair.

The dwarves couldn't believe Gandalf had picked someone like that for them; a burglar shouldn't pass out at the mere thought of danger. After casting one more glance in the direction of the unconscious hobbit Thorin shook his head and turned back to Nithyi. "And you?" he asked, not needing to say more, for everyone knew what the question was about.

"Yes." Nithyi said softly, but determined.

"Why?" Thorin shot back quickly.

"Because Erebor was my mother's home." She revealed quietly, not daring to look at Thorin. At this the dwarf seemed to nod and turn his attention back to Balin as they discussed things that were probably important for their journey.

As soon as Thorin had taking his attention off of Nithyi Fili and Kili turned back toward her, shooting her congratulating smiles.

"You never said your mother was from Erebor" Kili said a little surprised by the revelation.

"You never asked." Nithyi mumbled, looking back at her plate in a futile attempt to avoid the attention of the two brothers.

"Anyway, let's get to the sitting room, before the others take all the seats." Kili said cheerfully, dragging Nithyi along with them.


End file.
